Tag Archives: Sun

The nawal Ajpu helps us to recognise the divinity in all that surrounds us, it sends us on our quest to understand the holiness of life. Today it shows us that we have to look in wholeness, in every aspect.

The nawal Ajpu is representative the heroes of the Popol Vuh, Junajpu, Jun Junajpu and Wucub Junajpu. They were the ones who descended to the underworld to Xibalbans, the lords of the place of fright. Jun Junajpu and Wucub Junajpu failed in their task and were killed, but Jun Junajpu’s severed head magically impregnated the maiden Blood Moon with his twin sons, Junajpu and Xbalamque. Where the father and uncle failed, the second generation were victorious and the Xibalbans were defeated, bringing peace to those who dwell in the earthly realm.

With Ajpu representing the sun we can see this interplay as representing the victory of light over darkness. The days numbered 8 are commonly used for ceremony, and today this ceremony could celebrate and honour the heroes that bring the light into our lives, and the divinity that surrounds us in the world. However, without their opponents, heroes would not exist and neither would the legendary stories we celebrate whatever our tradition. The challenges we confront are what bring out the divinity within us, without them there would be no quests, no progress. It is a day to celebrate our failures as well as our victories, all the things which have brought out our the hero from within us.

It is easy to see the beauty in what we have been taught is divine, but can you see it within the mundane, or even in what is considered to be ugly? Can you find the divinity in what you judge to be a negative situation? It is a day to see that all has come from oneness, everything is part of the divine.

Itzamna emerges from the mouth of the serpent, from the Dresden Codex

Nawal Ajpu is once again a nawal with a multitude of meanings and translations. In the Yucatec language it is known as Ahau, in Kiche is is also known as Junajpu. These are in turn variously translated into English as lord, hunter, blow gunner, flower and sun. Each one of the translations has it’s merits, and represents an aspect of this auspicious nawal.

Within the ancient Mayan society, the royals were not just political leaders of their particular city-states, they were priest-kings and priest-queens. They served as the conduit to the divine, deriving their wisdom for guiding their people through their connection with the Heart of the Earth and the Heart of the Sky. This wisdom enriched both the ruling dynasty and their people, as they would be working in harmony with the gods. Thus the ruler of the city was also the physical embodiment of the divine, and it is to this that Ajpu is so closely related. Likewise it represents our potential, the state of divinity to which we may aspire.

Ajpu represents the holiness in life, the divinity in the physical world, and our search for it. It is that moment when you look closely at a flower to see the beautiful detail, the moment when you see the magnificence of the landscape you live within, the beauty in your child’s eyes or in the face of your partner. It is the random act of kindness that restores our faith in humanity. It is the search for the underlying meaning in all situations, understanding that each person is a part of the whole. Whether we like it or not, and however we judge it, we are all a part of creation. Our every action, and every action of others gives us the opportunity to explore ourselves and our reaction, whether we are attracted or repelled by the action of others. However, sometimes Ajpu can lead us to become immersed in the other world, to lose sight of reality, it is important to remember to stay in touch with the Heart of the Earth as we reach to the Heart of the Sky.

The number 8 is considered to be a number of wholeness. It can be seen as birth (1) and death (7) combined to represent the whole cycle of the soul. It can also be seen as the point where the four first men who raised the sky from the sea were joined by their wives and the world become whole. It is the most common day for ceremonies to be made, it is still in the balanced range of numbers and is an even number, which is also considered fortunate. As this wholeness represents every aspect of the energy of the day with which it is coupled, it is the wholeness of the nawal that is addressed in ceremony.

The total solar eclipse of today would have been something that the ancient Maya considered very important. The two most observed heavenly bodies are coming together in an action which will briefly turn day to night, which will stop birds from singing and make the people pay attention to what is happening above them. The temperature will drop as we are reminded where the energy which drives our life on this planet comes from. Many great articles have been inspired by this event, I just thought to add a little of my own perspective.

Apparently, there is a K’iche folk story in which the moon is the wife of the sun. The eclipse occurs due to a quarrel between the two, and the wife “takes a bite” out of the husband. Could this be seen metaphorically for the division which is currently so obvious, not just in the USA, but in many other parts of the world? This has been happening for some time, but right now the pressure really seems to be building, to me it feels the most chaotic that I recall in my lifetime. Society seems to be diverging between what could be seen as the brash, materialistic, masculine energy and the compassionate, caring feminine energy. This eclipse is literally drawing a line of division across the USA, cutting it in two, and beneath the line of totality lies the darkness. Perhaps this might serve to remind us of many things. The feminine (moon) is removing the power of the masculine (sun) as she takes her bite, her answer to their disagreement. With his power removed all becomes darkness, the energy of life disappears from our world.

Old man possum brings the nawal Iq’ to take the burden of time for the year. From the Dresden Codex.

This is all happening in the year 5 Iq’ (according to the traditional Highland count) and at a time when Venus is in the morning sky. The year 5 Iq’ has been with us since February, teaching us to work on our communication, but also bringing sudden and unexpected changes. The number 5 is also known to bring cause people to rush into things without thinking, suggesting that words may be said in haste and regretted later. This is how 5 Iq’ teaches us to be aware of our words. Venus was generally seen as male in the Maya pantheon, and the time of the morning star was also seen as an upset in society, particularly of the leaders. This may happen by shining the bright light of the morning star on the things which had been hidden, this is a time when scandals are brought to light. According to the Borgia Codex, when the heliacal rise of Venus (the day it appears to rise with the sun) occurs on a K’at day (as it did on 8 K’at in April of this year), it is the king/male ruler who is targeted by the Venus deities. Is this once again suggesting that the patriarchal system, or its figurehead, is particularly vulnerable at this time? Venus will continue to rise in the morning sky until 10 Ajpu (25th November 2017) when it will disappear for 50 days (90 days in the codex table) as it travels behind the sun from the perspective of the Earth in its superior conjunction with the sun.

Perhaps this suggests that the feminine energy needs to be listened to, that the quarrelling needs to be resolved before the feminine shows its full potential to eclipse the energy of the patriarchal society, and bring down its leader. This all happens of the day 5 K’at which might also suggest that we, as a society, need to work on bringing things together, it won’t just resolve itself. K’at has the possibility to gather great wealth, great abundance, but it also has the possibility to become the burden, the net in which we become ensnared. Of course, totality will pass, and the light will return, but perhaps this is a decision point. Will we choose to embrace the feminine and work together to our mutual profit, or will we choose to continue to be divided and trapped in the darkness?

For more information on the eclipse calculations of the ancient Maya, I would highly recommend visiting Biblioteca Pleyades. This is a very thorough and well written explanation of the eclipse table within the Dresden Codex.

The nawal Ajpu helps us to recognise the divinity in all that surrounds us, it sends us on our quest to understand the holiness of life. Today it shows us that we have to look in wholeness, in every aspect.

The nawal Ajpu is representative the heroes of the Popol Vuh, Junajpu, Jun Junajpu and Wucub Junajpu. They were the ones who descended to the underworld to Xibalbans, the lords of the place of fright. Jun Junajpu and Wucub Junajpu failed in their task and were killed, but Jun Junajpu’s severed head magically impregnated the maiden Blood Moon with his twin sons, Junajpu and Xbalamque. Where the father and uncle failed, the second generation were victorious and the Xibalbans were defeated, bringing peace to those who dwell in the earthly realm.

With Ajpu representing the sun we can see this interplay as representing the victory of light over darkness, a particularly interesting theme for today as we are very close to the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. The days numbered 8 are commonly used for ceremony, and today this ceremony is to celebrate and honour the heroes that bring the light into our lives, and the divinity that surrounds us in the world. However, without their opponents, heroes would not exist and neither would the legendary stories we celebrate whatever our tradition. The challenges we confront are what bring out the divinity within us, without them there would be no quests, no progress. It is a day to celebrate our failures as well as our victories, all the things which have made us who we are today.

It is easy to see the beauty in what we have been taught is divine, but can you see it within the mundane, or even in what is considered to be ugly? Can you find the divinity in what you judge to be a negative situation? It is a day to see that all has come from oneness, everything is part of the divine.

Itzamna emerges from the mouth of the serpent, from the Dresden Codex

Nawal Ajpu is once again a nawal with a multitude of meanings and translations. In the Yucatec language it is known as Ahau, in Kiche is is also known as Junajpu. These are in turn variously translated into English as lord, hunter, blow gunner, flower and sun. Each one of the translations has it’s merits, and represents an aspect of this auspicious nawal.

Within the ancient Mayan society, the royals were not just political leaders of their particular city-states, they were priest-kings and priest-queens. They served as the conduit to the divine, deriving their wisdom for guiding their people through their connection with the Heart of the Earth and the Heart of the Sky. This wisdom enriched both the ruling dynasty and their people, as they would be working in harmony with the gods. Thus the ruler of the city was also the physical embodiment of the divine, and it is to this that Ajpu is so closely related. Likewise it represents our potential, the state of divinity to which we may aspire.

Ajpu represents the holiness in life, the divinity in the physical world, and our search for it. It is that moment when you look closely at a flower to see the beautiful detail, the moment when you see the magnificence of the landscape you live within, the beauty in your child’s eyes or in the face of your partner. It is the random act of kindness that restores our faith in humanity. It is the search for the underlying meaning in all situations, understanding that each person is a part of the whole. Whether we like it or not, and however we judge it, we are all a part of creation. Our every action, and every action of others gives us the opportunity to explore ourselves and our reaction, whether we are attracted or repelled by the action of others. However, sometimes Ajpu can lead us to become immersed in the other world, to lose sight of reality, it is important to remember to stay in touch with the Heart of the Earth as we reach to the Heart of the Sky.

The number 8 is considered to be a number of wholeness. It can be seen as birth (1) and death (7) combined to represent the whole cycle of the soul. It can also be seen as the point where the four first men who raised the sky from the sea were joined by their wives and the world become whole. It is the most common day for ceremonies to be made, it is still in the balanced range of numbers and is an even number, which is also considered fortunate. As this wholeness represents every aspect of the energy of the day with which it is coupled, it is the wholeness of the nawal that is addressed in ceremony.